Embodiments disclosed herein relate to elevator systems, and more particularly to load bearing members to suspend and/or drive elevator cars of an elevator system.
Elevator systems are useful for carrying passengers, cargo, or both, between various levels in a building. Some elevators are traction based and utilize load bearing members such as belt, ropes or cables for supporting the elevator car and achieving the desired movement and positioning of the elevator car.
Where a belt is used as a load bearing member, a plurality of tension members are embedded in a common jacket. The jacket retains the tension members in desired positions and provides a frictional load path. In an exemplary traction elevator system, a machine drives a traction sheave with which the belts interact to drive the elevator car along a hoistway. In other elevator systems, the tension members are interwoven with a fabric material to retain the tension members. Belts typically utilize tension members formed from steel elements, but alternatively may utilize tension members formed from synthetic fibers or other materials, such as carbon fiber composites. Providing an ability to resist or minimize any burning and smoking of elevator belt would be useful. Typically large amount of flame retardant need be compounded into the belt to achieve fire resistance. This leads a belt or jacket with decreased mechanical properties and short lifetime of the parts but not self-extinguishing.